Hey guys, its my first ever story for castle and am super nervous. Hope you guys would like it. English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes.
Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, I would already know Beckett's answer. Unfortunately I neither own it nor know the answer.
The first thing that registered in her mind after the fog of sleep cleared up was that she was not in her own bed. The sheets were too soft and silk! Seriously, who slept in silk sheets?
She opened her eyes and looked to her left to see the back of her partner and the memories of the last week flooded her mind. She sat there for a few minutes just reliving the past 5 days when her phone rang. She picked it up and groaned to see the address Esposito sent her indicating a body drop. She sighed and got up from the bed and looked around for the clothes she brought yesterday knowing that she may have to go to job directly from here.
Picking up her clothes and relying on the memory of last night, she made her way to the door, which should be of the washroom. She entered discarding the oversized shirt and boxers and took a quick shower, which was heavenly after the stressed night she had. She quickly got dressed, made her way to the vanity, and opened the side cabinet to take out her make-up she kept there last night. After applying it, she made her way out to see her "sleeping buddy" still out.
She looked around for a piece of paper and a pen and found a notepad at the side table on his side with assortment of pens. She picked one and tore a paper from the pad. Quickly writing a message, she left the room and was out the door after taking her jacket from the closet.
"Who are you" the words were running in her mind since she made her way at the crime scene trying to seek answers.
"Allison Tisdale, 24, grad student in NYU, part of the social work program" Esposito answers her unvoiced question
"Nice place for a social worker," she says looking around
"Daddy's money", Ryan supplies looking around while Esposito continues,
"Neighbors called to complain about the music. When she didn't answer, they had a super check on her."
"No signs of struggle. He knew her." She observes and can't help but shake the feeling that all this way to familiar. Also God is back on playing games with her.
"Even bought her flowers, who says romance is dead?" Lanie supplies as she makes her way to the dead body and Kate gets up
"I do, Every Saturday night." She says as she stands next to Lanie, eyes still on her victim.
"A little lipstick wouldn't hurt." She glares at her friend. Though she was right, it did not hurt but was not fun either,
"I'm just saying'." Lanie says as she continues to glare at her.
"What'd he give her besides roses?" She asks returning her attention back to the victim.
"Two shots to the chest, small caliber."
"Does this look familiar to anyone?"
"No, But I'm not the one with a thing for freaky ones. Just give a Jack shot Jill over Bill so I can get my collar and go home."
"Oh, but the freaky ones require more. They reveal more. Look at how he left her. Covered, modestly."
"So?".
"So despite all of the effort, all of the preparation, you won't find any evidence of sexual abuse," "You really get that from just this?"
"This. Plus, I've seen this before."
"You've seen it before? Where?"
"Roses on her body, sunflowers on her eyes?" she stated and waited for a response from her co-workers who were looking at her clueless pissing her off, "don't you guys read?"
He killed his best selling character, not been able to write anything in months and is tired of fake smiling and flirting with all the women. Well not so tired of the flirting, but definitely annoyed of his ex-wife bugging him about not been able to give her a new manuscript. On top of all, he is frustrated with his mother for telling his secrets to his ex-wife.
He made his way to where his daughter and mother were, told his mother once again that she was welcome in his house as long as she does not discuss his work with his ex-wife while she got a hit on someone on her "greydar" and was off.
"You know I am only 15 right?" his daughter asks him as they finish their debate on letting his mother stay at the loft was a good idea or not as he passes her the bubbly
"You are an old soul" he replied while taking a sip from his glass and thanking the Almighty ā If there was a one ā that his daughter is nothing like him.
"Well me and my soul can wait" Alexis replies as she put the glass away.
"When I was your age" he stops as he realizes what he was about to tell his daughter "Hey, I can't tell that story. It is wildly inappropriate... which is oddly my point, don't you want to have some wildly inappropriate stories that you can't tell your children?"
"I think you have enough of them for both of us. There is one though, that was quite recent and I would love to know all about it" she replied putting her pencil down turning all her attention towards him.
"And I will tell you all about it when I know how it ends. It was quite an adventure when it started which is exactly my point. Life should be an adventure, full of surprises. You know why I killed Derek. There were no more surprises. I knew exactly what was going to happen every moment of every scene, just like these parties which have become so predictable 'I am you biggest fan', 'From where do you get those ideas?"
"And the ever popular 'would you sign my chest'",
"Well that one I don't mind so much",
"Yeah, well FYI, I do"
"I want just like for once, for someone to come up to me and say something different."
"Mr. Castle?" he heard someone say behind him and took out his sharpie,
"Where would you like it?" He looks around and is quite surprised to see the person standing before him,
"Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD, we wanted to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight" She replies, not giving him a chance to say anything.
"That's new," His daughter said from the back as she took the pen from his hand and waved to the detective.
To say the last few days were the whirlpool of events would be an understatement. A gorgeous cop escorted him from his book launch party, interrogated him and even arrested him, as he could not leave the case alone. It was the most fun he had in the last few months aside from the week trip to Vegas. As they stood at the corner of the street while the brother was being taken, he could not help but look at the woman standing with her back to him.
"Well. I guess this is it" She says as she turns around knowing as well as him that this definitely was not it.
"It doesn't have to be. We could go to dinner, debrief each other" He says as he plays along with her little game
"Why Castle? So I could be another one of your conquests," she asks, with a tint of seriousness,
"Or I could be one of yours?" he replies
"I was nice to work with you Castle" she says as she extends her hand for him to shake.
"It's too bad. We would have been great." He says as he shakes her hand and all too soon has to leave it as she pulls away,
"You have no idea" she says and then she is going towards the squad cars and he can't help but stare at her retreating back. He then turns and makes his way to the loft as one of the best thing that happened with him in these last days working with her was that he knew what his next story would be about.
He was furiously typing on his laptop that he did not realize that it was dark.
"Hey" he came out of his writing haze as he heard someone greet him,
"Hey" he looked at the entrance of his study and saw her standing there,
"I thought you said you would come at 8, are not you a little early?" he says as he looks at the time on the laptop and realizes it is half past 8, "Okay not early but late. Guess I lost the track of time." He says as he double save his work and keeps the laptop on his desk and gets up, stretches his muscles, as they were sore from sitting far too long with his legs propped up.
"Well I was here at 8 but did not want to disturb you as you were writing which is after months from what I heard from my sources. Hit with a bolt of inspiration?" she asks as she makes her way towards him,
"Well I had inspiring couple of days," He says as she stands in front of him not sure of what to do,
"So? You said on the note we would finish talking when you were done with the case?" he says as he leads her towards the couch at the corner.
She opened her mouth to say but he cut her off,
"You know I still can't get over the fact that my wife is a cop and arrested me within a month of us getting married." He says as he slumps on one corner of the couch resting his back against the armrest while she followed his suit at the other side,
"Well I can't get over the fact that I am the wife of a bestselling author and still wearing a plastic band around my finger as a proof to our marriage," She says as she waves her hand in front of him to show him the plastic ring with hello kitty on her ring finger.
"Well let me fix that." He says as he gets up, moves towards his safe, and gets out two small boxes from it.
"I was just kidding Castle,"
"Castle?" He raises his eyebrow at the use of his surname
"Yeah well I guess it stuck you know, after the case and all. Do you mind?"
"No. in fact I like it a lot. Makes me feel like a cop." he says as he gives her one box sits on the couch with the other one in his hand, she looks at the box in her hand and then looks at him,
"Was this necessary?" she asks
"Yeah well I am not a big fan of hulk." He says as he looks at his ring and groans as he sees the green rage monster staring back at him. She can't help but smile as she remembers him doing that numerous times since the day they woke up together in his hotel suite in Vegas with their heads hurting like hell memories of their marriage hitting her. She comes out of her thoughts at the sound of his throat clearing.
When he has her attention, he opens the box in his hand to reveal the ring. It was quite simple. Not the flashy ones with big diamonds, rather it was a simple platinum band with small diamonds embossed that covered the half of the band while the other half was bare. Two rows of 12 to be precise and she smiled at their significance.
"24th of February," she says and looks up to him as he looks at her shocked,
"How did you know that? And how did you count these tiny things while sitting so far?" he asks her,
"Well Alexis told me that you bought our wedding rings and they had our wedding date in it. As of the tiny things, well I am a cop. I tend to notice small things." She shifts her gaze from the ring and looks at him with a smirk on her face.
"You met my daughter?" he asks her,
"Yeah well someone had to open the door Castle and keep me company Castle while you were so busy working and I have met your daughter at the airport. Remember?" she says,
"I hope she did not ask too many questions. She is worried you know"
"Well it's not like everyday your father goes to a trip to clear his mind off and comes home with a stranger as his wife" she says and watch him as he keeps the box down and sighs
"She is a good kid Castle. We talked about the things that we have decided and I assured her that we would tell her soon about the things that we have to talk about." She reassures him and he looks up to her with gratitude his eyes,
"Thank you Kate. I don't expect you to talk to her about the things when you are not yourself sure where we stand."
"Where do we stand Castle?" she stands up, paces around, then stops, looks at him, and continues,
"I know we agreed to give it a shot but I don't see what to do more. And what about the media? You are this best-selling author and I am this cop who works hard for a living and don't want my face plastered on the papers with headlines like the new queen of the Castle. I don't want to be looked around at my workplace and being gossiped about. I want my personal life to remain that. Personal" she says all the things that bothered her since the day they have agreed to give it a shot. She looked at him expecting him to be angry at her outburst but he was very calm waiting for her to continue.
She takes a breath trying to control her frustration. After a few moments she starts again with a calm voice,
"And I am still unsure of what you want of this marriage. I understand it would hurt your image to be divorced for a third time. Other than that, what is there for you? You could have anyone you want. Would I be enough for you to not leave me for someone who is attractive, not working crazy hours and definitely does not have a baggage that would stop her from living the life to the fullest?" She thought of what she said and did not realize until the words have been said, that it could be a possibility that he would leave her for someone better, who would give him everything and not be this closed off.
"Are you done?" he looks at her and see her nodding, he stands up and makes his way to her, holding her both hands he brings her back to the couch and they both sit down. She tries to pull her hands but he is reluctant to leave them,
"Look Kate, I meant it when I said that I am in this. And if you don't want the whole world to find about us, then no one would know about it. I would do everything in my power to keep you out of the limelight." He pauses for a moment and the continues, his gaze never leaving her face while she looks at their interlocked hands,
"And you asked what I want from this marriage? Well I don't expect you to leave the life you lead and do as I say. I want you to be you and give me as much or as little, you are willing to give me. " He rubs his thumbs over her hands slowly and she looks up and tells him with her eyes to continue,
"And you don't have to worry about me leaving you for someone else. I know the image the papers paint of me and you have the right to feel insecure, but mark my words Kate, I would never cheat on you. If we have a chance at making this something special, which by the way, I believe we could do, then I will never leave you."
"Okay" she says and he smiles. They sit there for few moments of silence still holding her hands. After sometime he drops her hands on her lap and picks up the box from the table,
"So Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?" He says as he takes the ring out of the cushion and bends on his knees in front of her,
"Don't you think it's kind of late for that?" she asks,
"Umm could you please answer, the space is cramped and my back is hurting from when you knocked me against the wall" he says and she looks down at where he is sitting, the place was indeed small for his huge frame with the coffee table poking at his side but she was having fun teasing him so she continued,
"Don't be such a baby Castle, I am sure it does not hurt as bad as you are saying"
"It was pretty bad detective and it's hurting like hell, so please tell me Katherine Houghton Beckett; will you do the honors of being my wife?" He asks getting impatient, slightly annoyed with her,
"So it was not hurting when you were sitting awkwardly on that chair with your legs propped up but its hurting now?" before he could say anything she continued, "And how the hell did you come to know my middle name? I don't recall ever telling you,"
"I have sources" he watched her give him a death glare and did not say anything, within seconds he was squirming under her intimidating glare, "Fine. I asked Esposito to pull your file"
"You did what?"
"Are you always like this in the night?" he asks getting frustrated
"No. must be due to the man-child that unfortunately is my husband"
They both glared each other for a few minutes and gave up. She sighed and gave him her hand, from which he first extracted the plastic ring and made her wear the other,
"It looks more beautiful on her hand" he said softly as he saw the dim light of the lamp bounce of the diamonds sparkling and then looked at her face while she stared at her finger watching the band that adorned it. She shifted her gaze as she felt the couch dip with him sitting beside her still watching her. She smiled and he looked down and tried to get his ring out which was stuck. She watched him struggle for sometime and the ring finally got out which earned a great yell and some kind of victory dance from her... husband as he finally got free of the green rage monster and she just shook her head,
"What's going on?" his daughter peeked from behind the shelf and she just shrugged and pointed towards her father, who was busy dancing, and wondered how long has been the girl there?
She rolls her eyes and sits beside Kate on the couch while his father moved towards his desk still dancing and opened his drawer and threw the plastic band inside,
"Is he always like this?" she asked the red head while she saw him approaching them,
"Unfortunately, yes. Guess you are in for a lot"
"You have no idea"
"Are you two already conspiring against me?" he asked as he squeezes between the two and wraps his arms around both. She goes suddenly stiff at the unexpected but welcome touch and is disappointed as he removes his arm feeling her discomfort and wraps both his arms around his daughter who is asking him to leave her but he hugs her more tightly and kisses her on the cheeks. She smiles at that and thinks about her relation with her father and the fun they used to have. She pushes away all the memories as she can't breakdown before this man, who barely knows her and decides to leave,
"It's getting late, I should leave" she says as she gets up
"You are going? I thought you would stay" Alexis asks her and looks a little disappointed,
"I⦠I really need to go. Have to go to work early. I'll see you soon?"
"Sure. Hey pumpkin we shall see Beckett tomorrow" he tells his daughter and then turn towards her and stands in front of her. "Have dinner with us?" he looks at her and see she is hesitant, "Of course if you have other plans we would not impose but it would be nice and don't worry about the paparazzi we will have it here and if you don't wa..."
"Actually I would love to"
"O good so..."
"I should go"
"Yeah"
She turns and leaves and is out of the study approaching towards the door when he calls her from the back,
"Hey, Kate?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I keep the plastic ring or do you want it?" he says as she waves her ring.
"You want to keep it. Why?"
"Well they are our wedding rings, so yeah I want to keep them, unless of course you want to keep it."
"No. You can keep it." She says as she looks at him. He then opens the box to keep the ring in but the box was already filled with a plain platinum band,
"Oh we forgot about my ring.. Oh well" he takes out the ring and was about to wear it when her hand stops him,
"So I don't see anything significant in you ring? What got out of ideas Castle?" she says as she turns the ring,
"Well because you are not looking at the right place" He then takes out the ring hanging on his upper ring finger and shows her the inscription on the underside of the ring,
"R.A.R 2/24/09 K.H.B" she looks at him skeptically
"It's our names, Richard Alexander Rogers and Katherine Houghton Beckett"
"I thought you full name was Richard Edgar Castle"
"Yeah well I changed it. My given name Richard Alexander Rogers."
She looks at the inscription again and then at his outstretched palm. She turns his hand and slips the ring in his finger,
"See you tomorrow night castle."
"Sure. 7 good for ya?"
"Yeah. Night castle"
"Until tomorrow detective." He says as she leaves his threshold and walks towards the elevator. He closes the door and see his daughter standing in front of him,
"So you have not told her?"
"No"
"She is going to be mad"
"Let's cross our fingers and hope she does not shoot" he says as he keeps both his hands on her shoulder forming from back and lead her to the living room.
"You wanted to see me sir"
"Yeah. Just got a call from the mayor's office. Apparently you have a fan" the captain informs her.
"A fan sir?" she wonders what he is taking about
"Rick Castle. Seems like he has found a character for his next set of novels. A tough but savvy female detective." Is he seriously writing books about me
""I'm flattered?" she says still a little over whelmed with the idea that her favorite author, her... oh why can't she call him her husband without hyperventilating
"Don't be he says he has to research."
"Oh no" that bas... why did not he tell her that of all things he said yesterday
"Oh Yes"
"No way" she is not working with him because once she is going to the loft she is going to shoot him for even thinking he could get away with all this.
"Beckett liste.."
"Sir he is like a nine year old on a sugar rush, totally incapable of taking anything seriously" she says as she tries to get out of the situation,
"But he did help solve this case" Montgomery justifies
"And if the mayor is happy, the commissioner is happy and if the commissioner is happy, I am happy"
"How long sir?" she asks finally giving up,
"Well it's up to him" she turns around and see him smiling at the threshold of the captain's office,
She walks up to him and says while passing him,
"You are so dead!"
Do tell me how how you guys feel and whether I should continue or not?
